View full sizeJoseph Rose/The OregonianA TriMet 73 bus pulls up to a stop in the snow on Northeast 33rd Avenue in Portland.

Growing up in Montana, this is what dad called “a little spit.”

Barely a snowstorm. In fact, unless you live in the Cascade foothills of Clackamas County or the West Hills of Portland, it was barely a snow anything.

Still, blinded by a few inches, school districts in the Portland area called it all off today. As a result, kids got a great deal -- and so did commuters.

With so many workers staying home to take care of kids or running late as they scrambled to find baby-sitters (which I heard were going fast this morning), this may have been one of the easiest commutes of the year.

It was cool runnings on the wet pavement of area highways. Except for spots in the higher elevations -- and some icy ramps and overpasses before sunrise -- side streets were breeze. It was even safe for coyotes on the roads.

View full sizePhoto courtesy of @Doctor_Jeff on twitterHillsboro Central Station on Thursday morning.

View full sizeRob Finch/The OregonianNormally, this section of Southwest Barnes Road is packed with traffic. Not today.

Speaking of chains, several TriMet riders wondered why their buses didn’t have chains one them when the agency sent out a message saying that all vehicles were chained up.

Let me explain.

Well, there were chains. But you were on one of the 65 older high-floor buses that are part of TriMet’s trial run of drop-down auto Insta-Chains that you can’t see unless you’re right behind one of the big people movers.

With a push of a button, a TriMet driver can deploy the chains. Under the bus, a swing arm comes down and starts spinning the chains under the inside of the rear dual rear wheels. “It looks a little like an octopus,” said TriMet spokesman Josh Collins.

Snow video: How TriMet's drop-down instant chains workSixty-five TriMet buses are testing out Insta-Chains. Eventually, TriMet says, the entire fleet will have the system, eliminating the need for labor-intensive chaining before snow storms at the garages. Good for commuters. Good for the roads.

Here’s TriMet’s training video on how the system works. “We’re working with the vendor to get a design that works with low floor buses,” Collins said, adding that every TriMet bus will have the system in the future.

For now, however, the vast majority of buses must go through this process at garages.

Arriving downtown, looking at the lonely streets and sidewalks in the heart of rush hour, I realized it might have also been one of the best days of the year to ride my bike to work.